ST GEORGE’S—Five Trinidad and Tobago nationals who attempted to rob a branch of the Grenada Cooperative Bank (GCB) on the island of Carriacou on Monday, have been remanded into custody after making a court appearance here yesterday.
The men—Jabari Roach, a 25-year-old air conditioning technician; Allan Melville a 28-year-old vendor; Akeem John a 32-year-old painter; Nashawn Scotland a 29-year-old mechanic and 36-year-old fisherman Keon Dick, did not have legal counsel when they appeared in the St George’s Number two Magistrate’s Court. They will return to court on November 3.
Each of the accused has been charged with three counts of robbery with violence; entering the state without the consent of an immigration officer and failing to present themselves to a government-approved quarantine facility.
Head of the Community Relations Department of the Royal Grenada Police Force, Inspector Trevor Rodney, said the investigations into the robbery are ongoing and other charges are imminent.
“This investigation is ongoing and other charges will be brought against them in the future,” he said.
“Because the investigation is ongoing, there is information that we cannot divulge at this moment,” he told journalists who had gathered outside the court building.
But he said the maximum penalty for robbery with violence, which is an indictable offence, is 30 years.
According to section 272 of the Criminal Code, which had been updated in 2012, “a person who commits the offence of robbery, being armed with any offensive instrument, or having made any preparation for using force or causing harm, is liable on conviction on indictment to a term of imprisonment not exceeding thirty years, and, in the discretion of the Court, to flogging.”
Two of the men are reported to have entered the bank armed with guns and wearing masks and demanded cash from three of the tellers. Videos circulating on social media show the men running away from the bank displaying cash and what appears to be money bags. They then tried to flee the island using a boat, but were caught by the Grenada Coast Guard. (CMC)